"The world may have come to a halt on account of the pandemic, but the Holy Spirit has never stopped creating new things," said the moderator at the beginning of the Zoom meeting held in observance of Epiphany at the beginning of 2022.

Looking back over the past two years, can I see signs of the Holy Spirit acting? was the question participants discussed among themselves. They were reminded that "sharing with one another the signs of the Holy Spirit is important for us and for our community."

Offering our best wishes to the Archbishop:

Several of the guests rose to address best wishes to Archbishop Christian Lépine on behalf of the Diocesan Church of Montreal, thanking him for his "sincere commitment" throughout the "turmoil of the Church" we witness today. 

"Although your title of Archbishop is impressive, we were more impressed by your family spirit... by your great, generous and magnanimous heart as our pastor," they said. It was pointed out that this year marks ten years of Archbishop Christian Lépine's episcopal ministry. "We offer you our most sincere wishes for peace, endurance and a fruitful ministry as we implore God, whom you see everywhere, to shower countless graces upon you."

"Throughout this pandemic, the faith of many Montreal Catholics survived due to your example and the outlook you adopted in facing the many challenges of COVID 19." 

Well wishes reflecting the rich diversity of the Church in Montreal

Cultural diversity is a form of wealth "that reminds us of the universality of God's love." The Coptic Catholic community of Notre-Dame d’Égypte, a member parish of the Diocese of Montreal, also presented its best wishes on behalf of the cultural and missionary communities of the Archdiocese: "May God’s Word be experienced in our everyday lives, and may every home continue to be a little church. Let our church doors be always open to all people. Let us be in communion in our families, in our parishes, as well as with other churches. Our dream is that our churches should be interconnected, both virtually and in person."  

Moving forward in the dark, one step at a time

With a radiant smile, the Archbishop also expressed his best wishes for the whole diocesan Church. In his discussion group, although at first signs were named slowly and one by one, all of a sudden the list began to grow! "I ended up with two pages full of signs of the Holy Spirit at work over these past two years," said Archbishop Lépine. 

From his point of view, this pandemic has given him the opportunity to rediscover "the centrality of prayer."  "I thank you and I thank God; I give thanks from the bottom of my heart for this movement in the diocese of Montreal, propelled, I do believe, by the Holy Spirit. You never stopped devoting yourselves to people and enabling them to pray. Only prayer was available, and that is the most important thing." 

Even when it is dark and you can't see, the Archbishop urges us, we must continue to move forward, with only a little lamp. After all, "when we see everything, we become paralyzed." "We need one another's imaginations". Archbishop Lépine also asked God to cultivate our intercessory prayer, so that we can "grow in our essence, as temples of prayer."  When we are at prayer, he says, "we are in action." "Even the Masses we held outdoors... maybe the Holy Spirit wanted us to go out, to go outside, just as Pope Francis asks," he added. 

Two projects for this year

The event ended with the announcement of two major new projects: training in responsible pastoral ministry care and the synod.  
A veritable master class in responsible pastoral ministry "to renew trust," and with the aim of preventing abuse, will be presented in modules by a number of speakers and over the course of several sessions from February to May. The Archbishop also touched on the synodal process, which is being carried out "in a missionary spirit."